Oviedo's West team wins gold at State Games

Monday

Jun 24, 2013 at 8:36 PM

By DEAN HENSLEYTimes-News Staff Writer

Things got off to an ominous start Sunday at the Powerade State Games of North Carolina High School Soccer Showcase for West boys, coached by Hendersonville’s Freddy Oviedo, as one of his players went down with a leg injury before the championship match began.After Hendesonville rising senior goalkeeper Ryan Combs was taken to the hospital, the West team edged out the South team in on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtimes.“We were doing some simple drills, and his foot got caught up with another player. He had to be taken to the hospital in Charlotte, and they put a cast on his leg as a precaution,” Oviedo said. “After the match was over and we won the gold medal, we took his medal to the hospital to give it to him.”It was the second straight gold-medal performance for the Oviedo’s West squad. Oviedo has been head coach of the West team for two straight years and served as an assistant three years ago.Oviedo is hoping for good news later this week about Combs.“They are going to take the cast off in a couple days to see if the swelling goes down. It could be a severe sprain and not broken. That’s what we’re all hoping for,” he said.In Saturday’s opening 4-1 win over the Northeast squad, Combs had eight saves. Leading the way on offense was Smoky Mountain’s Jordan Couch, who had a hat trick. The other goal was by Newton-Conover’s Franklin Wepner.In Sunday’s gold-medal match at Wingate University, the West’s lone goal was by T.C. Roberson’s Danny Kearns.The only other Henderson County player on the West squad was rising junior Tyler Self, who had an assist in Saturday’s match.Oviedo had some more good news to report from the weekend. His Golden Gol squad had a third-place finish out of eight teams at a regional tournament at Greensboro’s Bryant’s Park Complex.